


Scars

by captainofbrooklyn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Empress Padmé Amidala, F/M, Gen, Padme's evil but shes not a sith, also idk the timeline for this au use ur imagination, evil Padmé Amidala, mentioned Anidala, or force sensitive, this is what happens when ur in self isolation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:53:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23148790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainofbrooklyn/pseuds/captainofbrooklyn
Summary: Luke Skywalker was raised with one mission: to kill Empress Padmé Amidala, the woman who had hunted the Jedi down for years and forced them to suppress their powers. But when the time comes, he realizes that the Empress has a deeper connection to his past than his uncle Ben had ever told him.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala & Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 10
Kudos: 119





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> Aight so im back with another sw fic since im self isolating bc of this stupid virus. This time it's Padme and Luke! Anakin's dead in this timeline (sorry.....). Anyways, in this au he died on the mission to rescue Palps, a bunch of other stuff happened, and Padme declared herself Empress and ordered the Jedi Masters to be taken out while other Force sensitives have to use force suppressing cuffs to suppress their powers. 
> 
> Ive read evil Padme fics before but usually Anakin is the one that pushes her to the Dark. I wanted to see if she could fall on her own. All my knowledge of Padme comes from reading fics so feel free to leave any criticism/praise/anything you want in the comments. I hope all you guys enjoy my fic (and wash ur hands!)
> 
> Trigger warning: implications of a forced c-section.

The Empress wasn’t scary. That was all Luke could think as fire rained down from ships above the Imperial Palace, causing the building to rumble and shake. The Empress was on her news in the nearly empty room, trying to climb back onto her throne but failing each time. The imposing black dress he’d seen on all the Holos swallowed her now; the once-regal silver circlet on her head crooked and slightly broken. She wasn’t the source of the Empire’s power anymore. To Luke, she was just a woman. 

“You’ve failed, Your Highness,” he said, pointing his lightsaber, ignoring the way his hands shook. She was just a woman. “The Jedi will live on. We will never be hunted down again.” 

The Empress chuckled, coughing. She stared at Luke, and her dark eyes reminded him of Leia. She didn’t glare or frown at him. All she did was tilt her head with a sad smile. “That’s what they all thought, Luke.” His name echoed in his ears. It was natural, the way the Empress said it. Like they had known each other for years. “The Old Jedi. They thought they were invincible.” 

“Until you wiped them out,” he snapped. 

“My predecessor accomplished that,” the Empress stood. “But I saw no reason to bring the Jedi back. They were corrupt. They will always be corrupt. And corruption must be eliminated. I thought-” she shook her head. “Not all the Jedi were bad. But enough were.” 

Screams ripped through the palace. The Force rang with suffering, with pain- the Rebels hacked by Imperial guards, little children hiding in the palace kitchens wondering if their parents would survive- it made Luke want collapse. This was it. This was what Uncle Ben had trained him to do. He turned his lightsaber on. 

The Empress was just a woman. 

The Empress was a person. 

“What Jedi?” he said, inching closer to the Empress. She tracked his every motion with a calm expression. He sensed no panic from her as he gripped his lightsaber. “Who were the good ones?” 

The Empress smiled, flashing those perfect white teeth. “Your father.” 

When Ben had given him his father’s lightsaber, the Old Master warned him, “The Empress is a manipulative woman, Luke. You cannot trust anything she says.”

His throat was dry. “My father? You knew my father?” He’d known the Empress used to be Senator Amidala, a supposed ally of the Jedi, but the idea that she knew his father, knew the man etched into everyone’s memory except his, made him freeze. 

“Anakin Skywalker was my best friend, Luke,” the Empress said. The throne room shook with quiet power, like the Force was holding its breath. Luke’s heart stopped. She was telling the truth. “I trusted him more than anyone. You are very much like him.” 

“I would never be friends with you.” 

The Empress slowly walked down from the dais. She shone with regality once more, despite the ash on her cheeks and torn dress. She circled Luke, her eyes never leaving his. “He shared many of his….frustrations with the Republic with me. His anger that they never did anything against slavery, as I have.” 

The kids on Tatooine jeered at Luke when he showed up at the marketplace.  _ Ash’kanza _ , they said.  _ Slavespawn.  _

Luke had watched the holos as a boy; he watched as the slavers were hauled away, were executed in front of the Empress. She looked as calm then as she did now. He’d seen other holos where the Empress handed out food to the poor, the way the Hutts never did. He’d watched through the windows as Jabba’s body was paraded around Tatooine, courtesy of one Empress Padme Amidala. 

Ben hated it when he watched the Empress. But for some reason, Luke could never look away. 

“My father was a Jedi!” he protested. “He would hate you.” 

“I hope not,” she said. “Your father is dead. All because the Jedi ran off to save the Chancellor responsible for tearing the galaxy apart. They fell for his deception just like the rest of us.” 

“Including you.” 

The Empress raised an eyebrow. He noticed as she moved closer that her dress was held up by a large sash in the middle. “Yes. I am sorry. I bear some of the blame for your father’s death.” She sighed. “You deserved to know your father, Luke. He would’ve loved you so much.” 

Luke realized that he’d turned his lightsaber off. He didn’t turn it back on. The Force was swirling around the Empress, suffocating him with both excitement and dread. 

_ This is the Empress!  _ He thought.  _ She hates the Jedi. She hates  _ me. Yet all he sensed from the woman in front of him was a tired sort of affection, like she cared about him but expressing that was too monumentous a task. Thoughts of Ben and his warnings quietly faded in his mind. Did the Empress look at Anakin Skywalker the same way? How had his father seen the woman in front of him before she became a monster? 

“How did you know him?” The words were soft, barely hearable in the battle going on outside the throne room. The Force muted the outside world. It was like all of reality was concentrated in the throne room. 

“He was a boy on Tatooine,” she said. “I met him after my planet was invaded by the Federation.” Another smile. “He asked me if I was an angel.” 

It would have been easy for him to turn his lightsaber on; a push of a button and a swing would end the Empress’s reign of terror forever. All the Jedi that had been hunted down, been forced to suppress their powers, would want him to take that step. Ben had raised him for that very purpose. His father-

Luke knew Amidala was telling the truth. His father trusted this woman. Would he still love Luke if he struck her down when she was helpless? 

_ But Ben said- _

“Why did you hunt us down, then?” he said quietly. “My father wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t a danger to everyone around him. So why weren’t other Jedi the same?” 

The Empress shrugged. Her reflection shone in the dirtied marble of the throne room floor. The twisted image reminded him of who he was with. This wasn’t a helpless middle-aged woman. This was the Empress of the Galaxy. 

“I know you were raised on Tatooine, Luke.” She spit out the name of his home planet. “You don’t know much of history. I do.” She turned around, facing the large window on the back of the throne room. He saw the fires from the ongoing battle, and his heart sank. “The Jedi and the Sith fought for centuries, hunting each other down, killing each other. Who was caught in the middle? The rest of us. The Republic, the Sith Empire, both had regular citizens that couldn’t live in peace because of  _ The Force _ .” 

“That was the Sith’s fault,” he countered. “Palpatine was a Sith. Not a Jedi.” 

“True,” she nodded, and Luke took a step back. He hadn’t expected her to agree. “The Jedi weren’t the Sith. No one could be as evil as Palpatine. But the Jedi  _ were  _ evil.” 

“My father-” 

“Your father was different!” She glared at him. “When we found him on Tatooine, what did your precious Ben Kenobi call him? A ‘useless lifeform.’” The Empress’s voice turned to steel. “Master Qui-Gon Jinn told a nine-year old boy that no, he wasn’t here to free the slaves. No one was.” She shook her head. “They only freed your father. The Republic gave the Jedi plenty of funds, but did they use those to free your grandmother? They used them to travel the galaxy, continuing to con more parents into giving up their  _ children _ .” 

Anger radiated from the Empress. Luke noticed how her hand drifted to her stomach before she pulled back. “I apologize, Luke. I just want you to understand. The Jedi were once my allies. I put my faith in them like everyone else, but they proved unworthy of my trust.” 

“Ben would’ve never done any of that,” he said, ignoring the way the Force confirmed the Empress’s words. “He was a good man, and your Inquisitors killed him!” 

“Obi-Wan Kenobi has done more wrong than any other Jedi,” she spat. “I should’ve made his death far slower. Removing his head wasn’t enough.” 

“You’re despicable.” The Force tightened around him. The Empress wasn’t Force-sensitive, he knew that, but it was like she was holding him place. He glanced at his lightsaber. His hands shook as his mind refused to turn the weapon on. “Ben raised me, cared for me, loved me!” 

“Do you really believe that?” 

“Of course I do. Ben would never lie to me. Not like you.”

The palace was silent now. The battle was over. Luke felt like the Force was hanging him on a string, ready to let go at any moment. Ben had told him to kill the Empress. Why couldn’t she simply surrender instead? 

“You want me to surrender,” the Empress said. “To give up everything I’ve worked for and be put in prison for the rest of my life.” 

“Yes.” 

“Alright,” she said. “Just answer one question. In all of Kenobi’s tales of your father, did he ever mention your mother?” 

“I-” He didn’t expect that. “My mother- I never knew my mother. She was a teacher.” 

“ _ Teacher _ ,” the Empress laughed. “Certainly a less stressful career than Empress. If only that were the case. I’m afraid Kenobi has lied to you, my dear.” The Empress untied her dress’s sash- except it wasn’t a dress. The top and bottom remained on while her stomach was exposed. Her stomach, covered in jagged burn scars. 

Scars that could’ve only been made by a lightsaber. 

“Anakin Skywalker was my best friend,” she said wistfully. “And my husband.” 

“ _ Husband _ -” 

“Yes, Luke.” The Force screamed  _ Truth, truth, this is the truth- _

“I am your mother.” 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
